Final Post-Reflection of TE448

As this semester comes to an end, I am able to look back and see how much I have learned about multicultural literature. At the beginning of the semester I knew very little about diverse literature and I wasn't sure how to incorporate it into my classroom someday. I can now say that my understanding has grown and I now feel comfortable using diverse literature in my classroom. I think the main reason that I was not used to diverse culture is because I was not exposed to it when I was younger. The classrooms that I was in contained literature, but nothing in the genre of diverse literature. Or at least not to my knowledge.
I am very grateful to have learned about insider and outsider authors. It now makes me look at literature in a different light. As a future teacher I am now able to analyze a piece of literature to make sure that it is appropriate for my future students. When picking diverse literature I will make sure that the text contains accurate information and doesn't promote stereotypes. If literature promotes stereotypes it causes the children to have misconceptions.
One thing that I still have a concern with is being able to teach diverse literature in a meaningful way. I want my students to get the most out of a piece of literature so they will be able to learn about a different culture or race.
I feel that this class really opened my eyes to new ideas and thoughts. I am very happy that I took this course and I can't wait to teach diverse literature in my classroom.

Text Set Reflection

Overall, I felt that the books that I chose were quite helpful and beneficial. The books that I chose were The Beaded Moccasins, Cheyenne Again, The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses, and Eagle Song. All of these books dealt with Native Americans. Each book dealt with different areas of Native American culture and heritage.
The Beaded Moccasins focused on the Delaware Indian culture and heritage. This text included many important aspects of this culture and made the reader interested in this particular tribe. Eagle Song focused more on the aspect of Native American culture when it came to feeling alienated by people of different cultures. This is a good book to teach in a classroom because at some point everyone has felt alienated by other people for some reason or another. The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses is a good book to read because it includes many important traditions that Native Americans have as a culture. This is helpful for the students to learn more about the whole culture. Cheyenne Again did a nice job at giving the reader the opportunity to see how some Native Americans were forced to be 'more white'. They went to drastic measures to make sure the Native Americans would loose their unique culture and heritage.
Overall, this text set did a good job at showing readers what it is like to live as a Native American. Some of the books I would consider to put in my classroom one day, and others I wouldn't. However, it is important that the classroom library be full of diverse literature to expand the children's current knowledge of different cultures.

Critical Resource-Cheyenne Again

Eve Bunting's CHEYENNE AGAIN

Slapin, Beverly. 'Eve Bunting's CHEYENNE AGAIN'. A Broken Flute: The Native Experience in Books for Children. AltaMira Press. Maryland. 2005.

I found this critical review written by Beverly Slapin for Cheyenne Again on Debbie Reese’s blog. I actually just stumbled upon this review and was very excited to see what this individual had to say about the book. The review originally appeared in the book, A Broken Flute: The Native Experience in Books for Children.

Slapin first starts her review by talking about the illustrations drawn by Irving Toddy. She comments on his ability to correctly illustrate what a boarding school would look like and it’s surrounding environment. Toddy was an actual student who went to an Indian boarding school so he was able to use his prior experiences in his drawings.

Then Slapin goes on to talk about the author, Eve Bunting, and respond to how her story was not very realistic. Slapin states in her review, “In Bunting’s telling, on the other hand, conditions appear far better than they were.” She goes on to explain that there were many deaths brought on by malnutrition, disease, and beatings. It is interesting to think why Eve Bunting left out such drastic measures that were done to Native Americans. Was it because it would be too graphic for children to read? Or was it left out because she didn’t know this took place? One could ponder these questions for a while. Another piece of information that Bunting tends to leave out according to Slapin, was the fact that when parents would voluntarily send their children to these boarding schools it wasn’t because they wanted their children to ‘learn the white man’s ways’, but rather to learn English. Slapin also adds in her review that there would have been no teacher telling the students to hold on to their memories, the teachers would force the children to forget their 'Indian-ness' inside and out.

So all in all, Slapin doesn’t agree with this text and thinks that it doesn’t promote the correct ways of the Indian boarding schools. This is not a recommended book to read to a class because it doesn’t portray the boarding schools in the correct light. They are made to seem a lot less harsh than they really are.

After reading this review my outlook on this book was changed a lot because I was taking what the author was telling me as the truth. However, it wasn’t the truth I was reading. It is the teacher’s responsibility to make sure what they are reading to their class is being correctly portrayed. Reading Beverly Slapin’s review really opened my eyes to things that I never would have known before. I am grateful for her insight on this particular book and her feelings toward it.

The Beaded Moccasins

By: Lynda Durrant
(Durrant, Lynda. The Beaded Moccasins. Yearling Publishing, 2000.)

This book tells the story of 12-year-old Mary Campbell's capture and first year of captivity among the Delaware Indians. This story is based on a real incident. Kidnapped in 1759 from her Pennsylvania home, Mary replaces the deceased granddaughter of the chief. Angry, lonely, and frightened, she resists assimilation into the tribe. However, by story's end, she recognizes her Indian family's genuine affection for her, helps with daily chores, and earns the name Woman-Who-Saved-the-Corn for her valiant efforts to salvage the tribe's crops. Throughout her ordeal, Mary weighs the relationships of her past life against the hardships and isolation of her current existence. The dissatisfaction she once felt for her real family fades as she struggles to understand the values of her tribal family. Mary's quaint, observant narrative reveals a young girl coming of age, discovering her inner strength, and gaining sensitivity to the needs and hopes of others.

This is a very compelling story of Mary Campbell. Durrant does an excellent job at portraying this real incident in a way that can be comprehended by students. This book could very easily be taught to upper elementary students. This book gives excellent insight into the life of this young girl living with the Delaware Indians. The book gives a lot of information regarding the culture pertaining to this particular tribe. This fictionalized account is entertaining, insightful, and compassionate. The book is also very informative because it contains a glossary of Delaware terms, a list of sources, and an afterword that completes the facts of Campbell’s true story. The cave that Mary Campbell lived in is still around and people are able to go and visit it. This would be a great opportunity to take a class on a field trip so they are able to see first hand what this young girl had to endure.

Eagle Song

By: Joseph Bruchac
(Bruchac, Joseph. Eagle Song. Dial Books for Young Readers. New York, 1997.)

This book tells the story of a young Native American boy, Daniel Bigtree. Daniel and his family moved to Brooklyn from their Indian reservation. They have been living in Brooklyn for two months and Daniel is having trouble making friends because people aren’t treating him fairly at school. He is being bullied because he is Native American. This is an obstacle for Daniel to face. He not only had to move from his comfortable life on the Indian reservation, he is being alienated by his peers. Daniel’s dad, Richard Bigtree, works a lot and is not able to spend a lot of time with his family. When Daniel does have the time to be with his dad, he tells his dad the problems that he is facing at school. Richard Bigtree suggests to Daniel that he come into his classroom and talk with his classmates about their heritage and how important it is to them. Richard hopes that this will show the students that it is important to embrace different cultures and heritages. However, it took some time for the students to accept Daniel. One of Daniel’s bullies, Tyrone, threw a basketball at his face while everyone was outside for recess. This took Daniel by surprise because he thought it was going to be better for him at school. After the incident happened, Tyrone apologized to Daniel and said that it was an accident. Daniel told him that he wanted to not be enemies and make peace between the two of them. Tyrone agreed and they set aside their differences.

This book was very interesting and engaging. The author has written many other books, all written very well. The issues that the author addressed in this book would be helpful to address in a classroom because many children would be able to relate to Daniel’s problems. The issue of Daniel feeling alienated from his peers is very relatable by students. They are able to see that it is not just them that suffer from this certain problem. It also lets the student have a personal connection to the character in the book, and when this happens it makes reading much more engaging. The text does a great job at informing the reader of Native American culture and heritage and how unique it is. This book would be a good to read to a class during a social studies unit on Native Americans because it tells the story of Aionwahta. This is a great story to read because it gives background information about the start of the Iroquois Indians. Another aspect of the book that was great was the sporadic use of Native American language. This is interesting for the reader because it lets them step into the world of Native Americans. There was a glossary and pronunciation guide in the back of the book for the reader to look up the words and see how they are supposed to be pronounced.

The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses

By: Paul Goble
(Goble, Paul. The Girl Who Loved Horses. Bradbury Press. New York, 1978.)

This is a story about following your heart for what you love. A young Native American girl follows her heart for her love of the wild horses. Her tribe would train horses to hunt buffalo but she preferred to have the horses run wild and free. It gave her a sense of freedom from her own life watching these animals. The young girl traveled with the horses while a storm hit her village and forced her to leave her family. After fleeing the village to not get hit by the storm, the young girl and her horses were lost for a year. When the young girl was found by two Native Americans she did not go with them she continued on her way with the horses. However, the young girl had an accident and fell off of her horse and the hunters helped her back to her village to her parents. When getting back to her village the young girl falls ill and says the only way that she will get better is by going back with her wild horses because she felt that they were part of her family. The young girl left her family to be with her horses and each year she would take a colt to her family for them to remember her.

This text does a great job at letting the reader step into the life of a Native American girl. The text does a good job at showing the reader different cultures and heritages. Many children wouldn’t be aware of Native American culture and how it may be so different than their own. This particular book would be useful in a classroom because the students can see how Native Americans live and some of the traditions that they have that are interesting.

Cheyenne Again

By: Eve Bunting
(Bunting, Eve. Cheyenne Again. New York: Clarion Books, 1995)

As I read this particular multicultural picture book I was very intrigued by the issues being discussed. This book informs the reader of the hardships that Native Americans went through to become ‘more white’. This story is about a young Native American boy, Young Bull, who is sent away to attend an off-reservation Indian school. He is sent there to learn how to become ‘more white’ and to learn that his heritage and culture is not acceptable. It shows Young Bull having to live in a cold and lonely barracks. This is hard for him because he is used to a totally different living environment. Then it shows Young Bull getting his braids cut off by a white man because that is not how whites wear their hair. This is just another way of trying to conform this young by to be 'more white'. During the time that Young Bull is at school he is daydreaming of what it was like to be back on his reservation and how free he was. Young Bull is also exposed to church-life according to the whites. He is not used to this type of religion because his culture prays differently than the whites. Since Young Bull is not accepting of this new culture he tries to run away back to his reservation, but he gets caught and a ball and chain is locked to his ankle for a day. They say that this will enforce more discipline in Young Bull. As Young Bull continues his education one of his teachers tells him that he should never forget that he is Indian inside and that no one should be able to take away his memories. The story ends with Young Bull reminiscing about his heritage and culture and that someday he will be back on his reservation and will be Cheyenne again.

Reading this book really opened the eyes of the reader to things that were not known before. It is known that Native Americans were wrongfully abused by the whites however; most don't know the extent of it. At the end of the book there is an afterword written by the author. This information tells the reader that these off-reservation Indian boarding schools were very popular among the United States. It continued to give names of different schools that Native American children attended. These schools still exist today for Native American children. However, the schools aren’t as harsh and they tend to be more sensitive to the young people’s needs. They also encourage the children to embrace their Native American heritage.

This particular piece of multicultural literature did a nice job at informing the reader of issues that they may not have known. The afterword at the end of the book was very helpful for the reader, it is a good resource tool. It gives the reader more information about this particular issue and they can see that it actually exists in real life. This book does a nice job at getting the reader comfortable about talking about these issues. These issues can be raised and addressed in a classroom and children would have many things to say.